Hydraulic fracturing of oil subterranean formations is a well known technique for increasing the permeability of subterranean formations. In this technique, a viscous fluid ("fracturing fluid," commonly an aqueous fracturing fluid, most commonly guar) is introduced to the wellbore, pressure is applied to induce fracture, and proppants in the fluid (most commonly sand) maintain the fractures in an open state. The viscous fluid must then be removed, and oil is harvested from the thus opened subterranean formation. In order to facilitate the quick removal of the fracturing fluid, chemicals are used to reduce or "break" the viscosity of the fracturing fluid; these chemicals (most commonly oxidizers, and in particular persulfates) are known as "breakers." The chemical reaction of the breaker with the fracturing fluid is undesirable prior to completion of the fracturing operation. Therefore, it is advantageous to encapsulate or coat the particles with a polymer to delay the release of the breaker, and hence to delay the breaking of the fracturing fluid.
Many materials have been used in the art to encapsulate breakers for fracturing fluids. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,506,734 (Nolte) describes a breaker within a crushable glass or ceramic coat that ruptures upon closure of the induced fractures. U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,401 (Walles, et.al.) teaches that a polymer can be applied to a solid breaker chemical, most preferably by air suspension coating. The polymers of Walles are most typically homopolymers and copolymers of polyolefin and ethylene oxides. This patent describes the release of the breaker by rupture of the membrane, either by the force of closure of the fractures within the subterranean formation or by the osmotic pressure of water diffusing into the shell. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,164,099 (Gupta, et.al.), a polymer is applied to a solid particle of a breaker chemical by interfacial polymerization. Typically, this polymer is a polyamide or a crosslinked cellulosic material. This patent states that breaker is released from the capsules described therein by diffusion through the membrane of the encapsulation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,591,700 (Harris, et.al.) relates to encapsulated breakers that are coated by surfactants that are solid at ambient surface conditions and which dissolve at elevated temperatures in the subterranean formation. The surfactants are mixed in from the dry state.
Alkyl-2-cyanoacrylate monomers polymerize immediately in the presence of a weak base, and as such have been widely used for encapsulation and particle coating in the pharmaceutical industry, primarily for the purpose of drug delivery. For example, Kante et al. (Int. J. Pharm., 1980, 7, 45.) have described a method for preparing actinomycin D nanoparticles using poly(butylcyanoacrylate).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,452,861 (to RCA Corporation) describes a method for coating luminescent, inorganic phosphors using polymeric cyanoacrylates. The procedure outlined involves a five stage process which requires complete evaporation of the nonaqueous solvent during each of the coating stages and a final step which calls for washing of the coated particles.